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May 24, 2012

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Wraps—Inspired by Sargento

For the most part, I keep this blog clean and free of advertising. My focus is on feeding my family and helping, I hope, you feed yours. I don’t want that message getting shouted down by flashing banners, pop-up ads, and other assorted visuals. There’s enough cacophony in life as it is.

Expenses do pile up, but don’t blame the lovingly convenient and savory things I favor—such as those D’Artagnan chicken truffle sausages—blame me! I take full responsibility for my food bill (and, no, this is not a plug for D'Artagnan). Therefore, when a company I respect approaches me with a good offer, I’m inclined to take them up on it, especially if it includes something that can benefit my readers (there’s a reward at the end of this post).

Hence, I found myself making a slightly more elaborate than usual breakfast this morning, wrapping eggs, bacon, and diced pepper in corn tortillas. I was following up on the Sargento “Thin to Win” challenge that I started two weeks ago. The key thing here, from the perspective of Sargento (and my bank-account), was the “Ultra Thin Sliced Swiss Cheese.”

My task was to pick one of their recipes, make it, and report back on it. I chose their Bacon, Egg, and Swiss Wraps because theny looked good, and I had most of the ingredients on hand. To manage something this (slightly) complicated on a weekday morning (I think it would work better on a Saturday or Sunday, and would be good for a brunch with friends), I did some of the prep ahead of time. I crisped the bacon and cooked the bell pepper and onion the night before, and left them in the pan (covered) in the fridge. That way, this morning, all I had to do was gently heat it before moving on to the next step of the recipe.

This morning, I added the eggs, heated the tortillas, and added the cheese. I knew going into this recipe that once the onions, bacon, and pepper were ready, the rest of it would be as easy as making scrambled eggs and quesadillas, two things I have ample experience with.

As for the taste, I liked it well enough. The thin slices of cheese were easy to work with and they saved me a bit of time, but, the bacon and the onion and the pepper announced themselves in the dish with bold voices, and the cheese acted shy. If I was making this again, I’d go for a sharper cheddar, and I don’t mind slicing things myself. As I’ve learned as a father in a household full of girls, it can take some effort to get heard.

And now, I want to hear from you. Tell me in a comment below about your favorite family breakfast, and the tricks you do to get things on the table in time. The one I find most informative and entertaining will win three coupons from Sargento to try their “Ultra Thin Sliced Cheese.”

I agree that this is a bit much to do on a weekday morning when you are trying to get two little ones and two adults out the door.

What I sometimes do, instead, is prep a ton of breakfast burritos on a Sunday and throw 'em in the freezer. Scramble a couple dozen eggs with cheese, cook a few different meats (ham, sausage, bacon), wrap the eggs and one of the meats in a tortilla, wrap in aluminum foil and toss in the freezer.

That should give you at least a dozen burritos that take about a minute to warm up in the morning. One hour's worth of work for at least three days of convenient hot breakfasts...

My favorite breakfast is an egg bake that my grandmother always made for Christmas. Since our family has grown (and grown older), I have taken the reigns in making the Christmas egg bake. It's quite easy and the best part about it is that you make everything the night before. I get everything ready after all the family goes to bed, on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas morning the only work I have to do is pre-heat the oven, and dish up the egg bake!